Jewish Women by Max Brod - #BookReview

 

Overcome with a feeling of melancholy, Hugo wandered down the woodland path. As he rounded a bend an unexpected sight brought his footsteps to a halt.

A woman dressed in white lay flat upon the ground. She was face down with her head on her outstretched arms. Another woman dressed in dark clothes, and a man were apparently attending to her.

***

This novel is set in the spa town of Teplitz (Teplice) and is a cameo of the lives of prosperous Jewish families before the First World War.

 It draws a compelling and poignant picture of the normal everyday lives of its characters, so touchingly unaware of the traumas to come in the following decades when their communities would be shattered beyond repair.

***

Jewish Women is a very understated story. It meanders along quite slowly, and as a reader, I thought I knew where this story was heading right from the beginning. Was my assumption correct? Well, maybe!

It is the coming of age story of Hugo, a young man who is taking a break from his studies, but who learns so much more about life and love during this time. Alongside, the reader also gets a brief look into the lives of European Jewish life at the beginning of the twentieth century.

I found the writing beautiful and it is worth reading this novel purely to enjoy the prose which has been expertly translated from German by Julia Rivers. 

The story focuses on Hugo's infatuation with Irene, who he first meets when she is face down on the floor in some distress. The offering of his aid begins his acquaintance with her. This event happens right at the very beginning of the book. My initial response was that she was not all she seemed and I immediately felt suspicious of her. Something about her did not seem trustworthy. I will say no more as to whether this first impression was correct as I would encourage you to read this for yourself, and form your own opinion. As you know, there are never any spoilers in my reviews.

However, it is not a spoiler if I tell you that in the final paragraph of this book, the author addresses Hugo directly. It forms an effective ending and enables the reader to picture Hugo's future beyond the final page.

Indeed, it occured to me that Hugo's future would likely to have been very different to that which the author himself imagined. Published in 1911, Mr Brod could not have anticipated that a mere three years later, Germany would be at war.

As a young Jewish German man, Hugo's life would probably have been short lived as he would almost certainly have been deported to the death camps if he had not previously managed to escape the country. Thus, the reader is perhaps better positioned to anticipate the future than the author was.

Having said all of that, this is a positive novel and I enjoyed accompanying Hugo on his journey. He had much to learn of life and love. I hope you enjoy reading this novel as much as I did.

ISBN: 978 0995716773

Publisher: Aspal Vintage

No. of pages: 256 (paperback)

About the Author: 

Max Brod (1884 - 1968) is best known as the friend and mentor of Franz Kafka, his contemporary in Prague in the early years of the twentieth century. They first met as law students at the German speaking branch of Charles University and soon became leading members of Prague's German-Jewish intellectual and literary circle of the time.

Although now overshadowed by Kafka's success, Brod was an accomplished and prolific author in his own right. Jewish Women was first published in Berlin in 1911 and was an immediate success.